The Merkel mobile spying scandal should enforce political control over state surveillance. In an irony of fate,Germanys Americophile chancellor,Angela Merkel,found out that the US National Security Agency had been spying on her mobile phone. Merkel,who spent her life in a police state till the German reunification,has noted the Cold War memories this would resurrect for a former East German citizen like herself. But the reason Germany,France and most of the EU have taken exception to the US snooping is that the NSA was spying on governments and citizens of allied states. Then,over the weekend,Der Spiegel claimed it had accessed secret NSA documents that reveal Merkels phone had been under surveillance since 2002,long before she became chancellor. German intelligence officials head to the US this week to push forward investigations,even as France and Germany ask the US to sign a no-spying deal by the years end,perhaps along the lines of the Five Eyes agreement dating back to World War II. But in choosing pragmatism over extended outrage,Merkel,along with French President Francois Hollande,has reminded her EU partners of the stolid statesmanship that has made her the most reliable leader of a Europe in crisis. Delaying the EU-US free trade deal is not her way of giving vent to hurt and anger. Hollandes emphasis on restoring trust gives the lie to talks of a transatlantic rupture. But Washington has to make up with Brazils Dilma Rousseff and Mexicos Enrique Peña Nieto and hope that every one of its friends among the 35 world leaders allegedly spied upon does not get to know. This affair may recast Americas intel modus operandi amidst allies,but it will not,and cannot,end surveillance. What it ought to enforce,however,is political control over acts of state surveillance and a sense of proportion.
